Former poacher spills the beans

2008-07-20 11:32:44
By Mbena Mwanatongoni


Poaching is here to stay despite serious efforts by the government to curb it, a one-time seasoned poacher strongly believes.

To fight poaching successfully a dramatic change of attitude in the minds of hypocritical leaders is of utmost urgency, and instant vetting on game personnel should be made, he proposes.

Shabani Malekela, (pictured) the man who served nearly 18 years behind bars for allegedly armed robbery and repeated jail breaking, says poaching thrives because it involves high ranking officials who are entrusted with the duty of fighting it.

``Throughout my life in poaching, my colleagues and I never worked without the closest of cooperation with bosses of game areas where we conducted our illegal business.

The bosses assigned all game wardens to the west when you wanted to operate in the east. This is the truth that cannot be contested,`` he confidently says while smiling broadly.

``To prove my point I am giving you a personal recount of what transpires between poachers and these officials so that you draw a good judgment of my position,`` he said, alluding fears that he might be netted and subsequently prosecuted for his admission in poaching over 20 years ago.

Early this week the ministry responsible for natural resources had told parliament that heavy weapons would be deployed in fighting the menace that makes a few people billionaires, to the detriment of the suffering majority, not to mention the death of hundreds of tuskers in the national game reserves and national parks.

Malekela said he was involved in the illegal activity for a long period, working for his brother who has since died.

He said somewhere along the line, he grew fed up with crime and switched to decent means of livelihood, but he didn`t prosper because the brother-cum-employer denied him financial assistance.

The man claims that he landed in prison on trumped up charges.

He narates: ``Full scale poaching needs heavy capital investment and large network.

I had under my command two 404 rifles, two 458 rifles and two 375 rifles, two SAR (semi-automatic) rifles and one G3 rifle. Of course these arms belonged to my brother-employer.``

He catalogues other necessary equipment as 60 axes, 40 machetes, 50 sharp big knives, over 20 sufurias (cooking metal pots), 10 big canvass sheets for tents, first aid medical kits, anti-malaria drugs, antibiotics and related drugs for use in the apparent absence of medical services in the bush.

Strikingly is the number of people who converge into the game area for the job. ``It is a troop of people, between 80 and 100 at a time.

There are porters, snipers, cooks and what have you. There is enough stock of food to last a month in the bush,`` he recalls.

He says the people were drawn from Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya and Ruvuma Regions for missions into the Selous Game Reserve involving a network of police officers, game department officials and other government officers from those regions.

``Our main market was in Bujumbura, Burundi, where a kilo of ivory fetched US $9 then (in the 1980s),`` says Malekela, now writing his personal experiences on the subject as well as his life in prison.

SOURCE: Sunday Observer